April 2, 2019

Posted on April 1, 2019

James 5:1–6 (NLT) — 1 Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. 2 Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This corroded treasure you have hoarded will testify against you on the day of judgment. 4 For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. 5 You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.

When is comes to money Real faith lives with no regrets. Real faith controls the money it doesn’t let the money control it. Listen to Abigail Disney tell how money influenced her Father, Roy E. Disney, particularly after he got his own private jet airplane, who was the son of Roy O. Disney one of the co-founders of The Walt Disney Corporation. The following is taken from an article written by Sarah McVeigh. https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lifestyle-buzz/what-its-like-to-grow-up-with-more-money-than-youll-ever-spend/ar-BBVmmtE?ocid=spartanntp

Did you have a moment in your life when things started getting lavish and you realized, “Oh, I’m super rich”?

When I went off to college, Michael Eisner came in and reinvigorated the company, and then the stock price, which was basically my family’s entire net worth, was ten times, 20 times, 50 times what it had been when I was growing up. So all of the sudden, we went from being comfortable, upper-middle-class people to suddenly my dad had a private jet. That’s when I feel that my dad really lost his way in life. And that’s why I feel hyper-conscious about what wealth does to people. I lived in one family as a child, and then I didn’t even recognize the family as I got older.

In what ways did your dad change, other than having a jet?

Actually, having a jet is a really big deal. If I were queen of the world, I would pass a law against private jets, because they enable you to get around a certain reality. You don’t have to go through an airport terminal, you don’t have to interact, you don’t have to be patient, you don’t have to be uncomfortable. These are the things that remind us we’re human.

My dad’s plane was a 737, and it was insane to have a 737 as a private airplane. It had a queen-sized bed with one big long seatbelt across it, and a shower, and it was ridiculous. We would use the plane occasionally because I have four kids, so it was much easier, obviously, to ride on my dad’s plane with them. Then, at a certain point, I just said, “No, I think this is really bad for everybody.”

How did the jet change your dad?

It wasn’t just the plane, but it’s not a small thing when you don’t have to be patient or be around other people. It creates this notion that you’re a little bit better than they are. And for the past 40 years, everything in American culture has been reinforcing that belief. We say, “Job creators, entrepreneurs, these are the people who make America great.” So there are people walking around with substantial wealth who think that they have it because they’re better. It’s fundamental to remember that you’re just a member of the human race, like everybody else, and there’s nothing about your money that makes you better than anyone else. If you don’t know that and you have money, it’s the road to hell, no matter how much stuff you have around you.

James would say that Real faith is patient and that to develop that patience it has to be around other people so that it can build it’s faith muscle. Real faith remembers that it is a member of the human race just like everybody else and that money doesn’t make you better than anyone else. Real faith knows that to trust in money, to ignore those in need and to use it to take advantage of others truly is the road to hell.

When did you stop riding the private jet?

The moment for me, when I decided I couldn’t fly in the plane anymore, was about 20 years ago. I had to fly out to California for a meeting but I had to get back to New York by the next morning for a conference. And the guy ran our family’s company put me on the 737 alone. I flew across the country overnight, by myself on that giant plane, and I was sitting there thinking about the carbon footprint and the number of flight attendants and the other pilot on-call and what it was costing, and I just wanted to be sick. By the way, my parents always made fun of the fact that I thought it was terrible and awful because they were very comfortable with what they were doing.

Real faith is able to distinguish between necessity and excess and it has the fortitude to choose necessity. Real faith is careful not to let itself get comfortable with prosperity.